Robots In Disguise

Yeah, I'm going there. This has been a hotly debated topic for a while now and I've mostly sat back and watched. Today I'll stick my toe in the murky waters.

Like any emerging technology, there are folks vehemently for and against it almost as soon as it hits the scene. Back in late 2022, many graphic artists adjacent to the author community were upset at how popular, and readily available, AI art was becoming. Sources like MidJourney and NightStudio seemed to break new ground every week. I saw a lot of fellow authors encourage them to chill and let the storm pass. That was good advice until ChatGPT started writing stories that were sold as books on Amazon.

My take? I tend towards the middle ground on many of these debates. Do we need to protect artists' rights? Absolutely. Do I think AI generated art will replace humans? Absolutely not. Do I think AI material is evil? Nope. Technology is like any tool. It is amoral. Meaning it's neither good nor evil. The user supplies the morality.

I use AI imagery in my writing. I have a blog post that mentions it. Being a very visual person, making tons of images about a place I'm writing is helpful. I print them out and post them on the wall in my writing space. This type of storyboarding is immensely helpful to me. To have the same art created by an artist would cost thousands of dollars. Which brings up my next point: money. Here in the US, few things just exist. If something is useful, it won't be long until it's quantified and taxed. I don't intend to stop paying for custom artwork for book covers, paid ads, and book illustrations. Anything I sell or use in paid advertisements, I'll pay for. I use AI art for writing prompts, goofing around, and maybe on a Facebook post. The law around AI generated content is pretty unclear at the moment and I don't want to put myself in a bad place, legally. And I don't want to exclude the myriad of gifted artists from their place in the profit cycle.

These are my choices and my thoughts. I would love to hear yours. Even if you disagree. Dialog about new things is healthy. If you have thoughts, shoot me an e-mail or find me on Facebook Messenger jack@authorjackadkins.com.

Progress

I'm closing in on 70,000 words for Book 3 of The Dragons of Dorwine. I know. I'm not setting the world on fire, but this is a good pace. This is some of the most difficult writing I've ever done. Every scene involves numerous character plots and arcs. I have a couple of other projects I'm pecking on simultaneously. More on that later.

The Blood of a Dragon is going on Sale!

It's way off, but starting June 20th you can get The Blood of a Dragon for $.99 for Kindle. Start saving your pennies!

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